Poland against 'emergency brake' solution on UK migrant workers

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland does not support “emergency brake” proposals that could help curb immigration from other European Union states to Britain, Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said on Friday.

Sources have told Reuters the European Union was offering Britain a plan under which any member that could convince EU governments its welfare system was under excessive strain would have the right to deny benefits to new workers arriving from other EU countries for up to four years.

Asked about the proposal, Waszczykowski told a news conference:

“No, Poland does not accept this mechanism. It will not accept a mechanism that denies social benefits to Poles living in the European Union.”

Commenting on Poland’s ongoing negotiations with the U.S. on a $5 billion tender for Raytheon’s Patriot missile defence system, Waszczykowski said: “Today everything points towards Poland having to reopen the tender for a missile defence, and we’ll talk again with several countries.”

(This version of the story adds dropped word “not” in paragraph 4 quote)